Speak of the Devil
by xAndromedaBlackx
Summary: James likes Lily. Lily hates James. Watch…er…read about how they fall in love and get married -but the married part is another story for another day-. JPLE Marauders era, seventh year. There may be some SBOC and RLOC.
1. The Quidditch Match

**Virtual cookies (celery/carrot sticks to vegans/vegetarians) to anyone who can guess who Bethie Cavaleri is! It's not that hard… ;)  
**

–**xAndromedaBlackx–**

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"Cavaleri in possession of the Quaffle… passes it to Rinecliff… Ouch, some nice Bludger work there by the Hufflepuff Beater Jefferson, and Rinecliff drops the Quaffle… Leevington picks it up… He's going towards the goalposts… he shoots… Miller's saved it! The score is still fifty-twenty to Gryffindor…"

A roar of applause went up from the red-and-gold side of the stands, as all the Gryffindor supporters jumped to their feet and shouted their gratitude at Andrea Miller, the fifth-year girl who played Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The people waving yellow flags in another section of the stadium all groaned.

"And it's Rinecliff with the Quaffle again… passes it to Potter…"

A red-and-gold blur could be seen streaking towards the Hufflepuff Quidditch team's goalposts.

"And he shoots… and scores! Sixty-twenty to Gryffindor…"

Marlene McKinnon and Lucinda Baker both jumped to their feet and cheered for James Potter, who pumped his fists in the air and shouted something indistinguishable (which was lost in the loud roar coming up from Gryffindor supporters) as he zipped past a Hufflepuff Chaser. Lily Evans rolled her eyes.

"Now, now, Lily," Lu teased as she sat back down again. "James is just doing what he's supposed to be doing… there's no need for you to take your anger out on him…"

"I didn't take my bloody anger out on anyone," Lily grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You rolled your eyes at him," Marlene pointed out.

"Oh, sod it," Lily shot back.

"Bethie's doing well," Lu broke in, before an argument could escalate.

The three girls turned to look at Bethie Cavaleri, their other good friend and fellow Gryffindor seventh-year girl, who had just picked up a Quaffle dropped by one of the Hufflepuff Chasers and was now speeding towards the Hufflepuff goalposts.

"Cavaleri's got the Quaffle, and… was that the Snitch?"

Everyone eyes swung over to where Frederick Towers, the Gryffindor Seeker, and the Hufflepuff Seeker, Caradoc Dearborn, who was a blonde, good-looking boy, were diving down. Lily strained her eyes to see and thought she caught a glimpse of a golden glint.

"Towers is in the lead…" the commentator, a boy named Joseph Woodworth, who was a Ravenclaw seventh-year, announced. "And… yes! Frederick Towers has gotten the Snitch, and it's Gryffindor in the lead for the House Cup, and they've won, two ten to twenty!"

If Lily had tried to shout herself hoarse right now, it would have been impossible to discern her own voice from the racket. Lu was doing a little dance, Marlene was jumping up and down and squealing, and the rest of Gryffindor was no better. The Gryffindor Quidditch team was down below, one of Lily's best friends there too, all cheering and celebrating.

"Party in the common room!" Lu sang happily, clapping her hands gleefully. "Who wants to bet the Marauders will spike the punch?"

The Marauders were a group of four boys, who were all in their seventh year, and Gryffindors as well. They were the most popular and sought-after boys in the school. There was James Potter, captain of the Quidditch Team, Head Boy working alongside Lily (most unfortunately, in Lily's opinion), best Transfiguration student, and owner of one of the biggest egos Lily had ever encountered.

Then there was Sirius Black—tall, dark, and handsome pretty much described it all. He was very good-looking, but he didn't date much. Some people thought he had fear of commitment.

Third, there was Remus Lupin, mastermind of all the pranks the Marauders had pulled throughout the years. He was quiet, shy, and slightly mysterious, and he was a prefect. He was really the only one of the Marauders Lily could stand for more than five minutes.

Last of all was Peter Pettigrew, who neither particularly tall nor good-looking. He was short, slightly chubby, and had a squeaky voice and the looks of a rat. While Remus thought up the pranks, and James and Sirius performed them, Peter was the one who sat by either doing the hardest work or watching and laughing at the victims. He was more of a tagalong than anything else, but the rest of the Marauders did seem to genuinely like him.

Lily shook herself out of her thoughts and wrapped a red-and-gold Gryffindor scarf around her neck. The chilly November air stung her cheeks. She blew on her hands for warmth, wishing she had brought gloves.

"I don't want to bet," Lily told her friend, answering Lu's question.

"Come _on_, Lily!" Marlene exclaimed. "Let's go celebrate!"

Lily declined the offer. "I'll meet you in the common room," she replied.

Lu rolled her eyes. "Still avoiding Potter, are you?"

There was another thing about James Potter that Lily particularly disliked—he had been chasing her since fourth year. He had asked her out exactly 698 times since then (Bethie had kept count). And each time, Lily turned him down, all for the same reasons: He had a big head, an over-inflated ego, and he was annoying. He thought he was better than everyone else, and he wasn't responsible or mature at all.

"You're no fun," Lu complained, but she gave a small grin to show Lily that she was only joking and raced down to the Quidditch pitch with Marlene.

Lily watched her friends go, and came down from the stands to get to the Gryffindor common room, when a voice asked, "May I walk you back to Hogwarts? I'm sure your House will want to celebrate your victory."

Lily blinked and turned to see Joseph Woodworth (the Ravenclaw commentator for the Quidditch game) smiling friendlily at her. He had come down from the commentator's box.

Lily smiled brightly at him. "Sure, why not?"

Joseph grinned at her and glanced at her hands, which were practically almost turning blue from the cold. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a pair of gloves and handed it to her. "Are your hands cold?" he asked.

"Thank you," Lily breathed gratefully, slipping the gloves on to protect her hands from the harsh almost-winter air. "I didn't think it would be this cold out."

"Anything for the Head Girl," Joseph agreed, grinning.

Their shoes crunched on a few fallen leaves that had somehow found their way onto the Quidditch pitch as they walked. There was a long, slightly uncomfortable silence before Joseph asked, "So how did you like the Quidditch game?"

"It was good," Lily answered, glad for a distraction. "We won," she added, unnecessarily. She immediately wanted to kick herself for making such an obvious comment.

"Yeah. But we'll clobber you once we play you!" Joseph joked. "Ravenclaw's got Charlie Chang, Anthony's little brother, now, and all Changs are good Seekers."

"So is Towers, and you'll never beat him." Lily smiled. "And you need decent Chasers and a Keeper, not to mention Beaters as well."

"You've got Potter," Joseph observed.

Lily scowled at the mention of her arch nemesis. "Please don't spoil my good mood."

"You don't like him?" Joseph asked curiously.

"Detest, more like, and that's still an understatement." Lily tightened the scarf around her neck. They were almost at Hogwarts castle now. "He's a bloody pain in the arse."

"Such language," Joseph teased. His face grew more somber. "But seriously, why do you hate him?"

"Seriously, why _don't _I hate him?" Lily laughed sourly. "Simple: because I do."

Joseph frowned, obviously confused.

"Seriously, don't worry about it." Lily stepped into Hogwarts through the doors. The warm air felt good against her cold cheeks. "Finally."

The two walked in an almost-comfortable silence for a while before Lily stopped in front of a corridor. "I'm going to go to Gryffindor Tower now. You should get to the Ravenclaw common room."

"All right. See you later." Joseph nodded.

"Good-bye."

Lily turned and walked to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Even from outside, she could hear sounds of the party, already in full swing, drifting out through the walls.

"Niffler," Lily said. That was the password.

The portrait swung open, and Lily climbed through the portrait hole. She saw Lu, Bethie, Marlene, and Alice Mikos, another Gryffindor seventh-year girl, all standing by the table of refreshments.

"Don't drink the punch—it's spiked with firewhiskey," Lu warned Lily as she slipped in line next to her friends.

"Exactly why I didn't want to bet," Lily countered, grabbing a bottle of butterbeer instead. "Hey, everyone."

"Hey, Lily," her friends chorused.

"You were great today, Bethie. You scored a goal!" Lily grinned.

"Thanks." While Marlene had curly, light-brown hair and Lu was a typical blue-eyed blonde, Bethie's hair was as dark as James Potter's. She had long, black, slightly wavy hair, eyes of a sort of bluish color, and she was rather short for her age.

Lily took a sip of butterbeer. Before she could say anything else, another (unwelcome) voice joined in.

"Hey girls."

It was Sirius Black. James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were with him.

"Go away, Black," Lu declared immediately.

"Why?"

"Because you're annoying."

"That's not an excuse."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

Remus Lupin rolled his eyes. "And here they go again," he muttered, clearly annoyed.

Lily couldn't help agreeing. Lu and Sirius bickered like an old married couple, like Lily and James often did. Or at least, Lily bickered. James tried (and failed) to defend himself.

The only difference between Lily and James and Sirius and Lu was that Sirius and Lu's arguing was friendly. James and Lily's was not.

Lily felt a prickle on the back of her neck, like someone was watching her. She turned to see James staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"What?" she snapped, feeling aggravated.

He blinked, looking startled. Then his eyes focused on her and he grinned. "Hey Evans."

"Go away, Potter."

"Why?"

"Because you're annoying."

"That's not an excuse."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

_OK_, Lily reflected. _So maybe Sirius and Lu's bickering ISN'T very friendly. Because Potter and I are having the exact same argument they are right now. And neither of us are backing down. But the difference is, Sirius and Lu are both way more into the "Yes it is/No it isn't"s than Potter and I are. _

"Potter, shut your bloody trap up and go away."

"Why?"

"Because you're annoying."

"That's not an excuse."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

Lily fought the urge to scream with frustration and to bang her head hard on a wall repeatedly. Because she really did feel like doing both of those things.

"Devil," she muttered.

"What did you say?" Potter wanted to know.

"Nothing."

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**Please read and review!**

**-xAndromedaBlackx-**

**PS. Remember, virtual cookies to anyone who can guess who Bethie Cavaleri is! The answer is around here somewhere, you know. (dangles bag of cookies in your face)**

**(Chapter edited October 6th, 2008.)**


	2. The Transfiguration Quiz

**Read and review, please!**

**-xAndromedaBlackx-**

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_Tap, tap, tap._

Lily chewed on a strand of her long red hair and frowned down at her paper. Transfiguration was usually her second-best subject, but this quiz was rather hard, even for her own standards.

She sighed and blinked down again at the question about Human Transfiguration: What had Professor McGonagall said again about that particular subject?

Lily racked her mind for an answer, but none came.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Lily turned and glared irritably at Lu, who was mindlessly tapping her quill on her desk. Lu looked up and gave Lily a cheeky grin so reminiscent of James Potter that it was actually quite scary.

Speaking of James Potter, Lily turned to look at the spawn of Satan himself. Potter was scribbling down answers on his parchment, an intent, studious expression on his face.

Lily scowled to herself. She was the second-best student in Transfiguration, but why did James bloody Potter have to be the first? He was a Marauder, for goodness sake!

Remus Lupin was writing down answers, too. He paused and frowned slightly at his paper.

Sirius Black didn't seem to really care much. He was staring out the window, and occasionally he turned back to his paper to write something down.

Peter Pettigrew was scribbling frantically onto his paper. Sometimes he glanced up and tried to sneak a peek at his neighbor's paper.

Lily sighed to herself and glanced over at her friends. Lu was tapping her quill on the desk again (_Tap, tap, tap_). It was extremely irritating.

Marlene and Alice were both thinking. It was quite obvious they were, anyway. Bethie was chewing nervously at the tip of her quill, clearly fishing through her mind for answers.

Lily sighed again and glanced back down at the question, deciding just to skip this one. She didn't understand the concept of the question, anyway. Why was it asking about Human Transfiguration when the whole—

_Tap, tap, tap._

Lily felt her nerves begin to fray. Why couldn't Lu stop that ridiculous, completely unnecessary tapping, for Merlin's sake?

_Tap, tap, tap._

Lily began chewing at the tip of her quill like Bethie was, trying to block out the sound. She couldn't concentrate.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Lily glanced back down at her paper. The next question ("Why is Human Transfiguration risky?") was easy. She scribbled down the answer—_Human Transfiguration is risky because if it goes wrong, you may not be able to get yourself back to the way you first were, and if say you turn yourself into an animal, if there is no one around who witnessed you doing this and they don't understand animals, you won't be able to turn yourself back into a human_—and moved on to the next one.

_Tap, tap, tap._

"Lu! Stop it!"

The class blinked, startled out of their stupor. Lu shot up in her seat so fast it reminded Lily of a jack-in-the-box.

"Miss Evans, Miss Baker, what is the problem?" Professor McGonagall asked irritably, coming over from her desk. Her gray hair was pulled in a tight bun as usual, and her face was marred with frown lines.

"Can you please ask Lu not to tap her quill on her desk?" Lily asked, gritting her teeth.

"Miss Baker, please do not tap your quill on your desk. It may be distracting to other students," Professor McGonagall ordered, before turning back to her desk.

Lu stuck her tongue out at Lily, who glared back. Honestly…

She turned back to her paper and frowned. Now there was no sound to distract her from the horror of this extremely hard Transfiguration quiz. She didn't understand the next problem, nor the next one, and the one after that… well, she simply hadn't studied that part well enough.

Lily racked her brain for instances of Human Transfiguration in the textbook and her notes that she had taken in class, but came up empty. She could barely remember anything.

She was usually good at Transfiguration. What was wrong with her?

"Five more minutes," Professor McGonagall called from the front of the room.

Lily shot up in her seat, not unlike the way Lu had when Lily had called her out. Five minutes! She still had six problems to do, and four of them she didn't understand!

Frantically, Lily began scribbling down whatever came to mind about Human Transfiguration—maybe Professor McGonagall would give her partial credit?

At least she understood the last question. That one wasn't hard.

"Time is up. Please pass your papers to the front of the class," Professor McGonagall said.

Lily swallowed hard and put her quill down, willing herself not to cry. Why hadn't she understood this material? She was going to fail, she was sure of it!

"Pass your paper up," the boy sitting in front of Lily snapped at her. Numbly, she handed the paper over.

"Class dismissed," Professor McGonagall called over the ruckus that usually followed the silence of test/quiz-taking time.

Lily gathered up her things and tossed them in her bag, not caring if her books got stained with ink. She was going to fail Transfiguration and be kicked out, anyway, so who cared?

"That quiz was actually quite hard," Marlene commented as the five friends (Lily, Lu, Marlene, Bethie, and Alice) walked out of the classroom. "I didn't understand the last two problems."

"It _was_ hard," Bethie admitted. "It took me forever to find the right answers."

Lily swallowed. Her friends had gotten the right answers. Why hadn't she, then?

"Oh, come on," Alice said, shrugging. "It was hard, but not _that _hard. N.E.W.T.s are going to be way harder."

"Speaking of N.E.W.T.s," Lu cut in, changing the subject. She turned to Lily with an accusing glare. "Why did you try to get me in trouble in class today?"

"That has nothing to do with N.E.W.T.s," Bethie pointed out.

"Whatever." Lu shrugged. "But seriously, Lily, why did you?"

"I couldn't concentrate with your annoying tapping going on," Lily muttered. "Sorry."

"Still, you could've, I don't know, passed me a note or something saying—"

"Hey, break it up," Bethie interjected. "It wasn't that important."

"I guess not," Lu relented. "So, what homework do we have today?"

"A Charms essay is due tomorrow," Marlene offered.

"And a Potions essay is due the day after tomorrow," Alice added.

"My brothers weren't _kidding _when they said N.E.W.T. year is hard," Lu grumbled.

* * *

Lily held her breath as Professor McGonagall walked around the room. It was three days after Lily had taken the extremely difficult Transfiguration quiz, and she was still praying for a miracle. Maybe she _hadn't _failed.

"I was rather disappointed with your grades," Professor McGonagall commented dryly as she began passing the papers out. "Unfortunately, only one person received full marks. The second highest grade was an A."

A for Acceptable. Lily swallowed hard. _I know it's impossible, but please let it be me who got the A. Please oh please oh please, I swear I'm praying…_

Professor McGonagall slapped Lily's quiz paper down on her desk. Lily chanced a glance at her professor, but she had already moved on to the next desk.

Lily flipped the paper over and swallowed hard. The paper was slashed with red marks. Slowly, her eyes traveled up to the grade at the top.

_P._

She, Lily Rosita Evans, had gotten a bloody _P _for _Poor _on a quiz in her second-best subject.

What the bloody hell was _wrong _with her?

Professor McGonagall began lecturing about Human Transfiguration again, but Lily wasn't listening. The moment class was dismissed, Lily rushed out of the room.

"Evans! Hey, Evans!"

Lily refused to slow down. In fact, the voice just made her speed up. If James Potter seriously thought she was going to slow down to talk to him, he was dreadfully mistaken.

"Hey Evans, wait up!"

Lily ignored him. She was almost out of the classroom corridor anyway.

"Oy, woman!"

Well, _that _was something Lily could not ignore. She spun around, furious.

"Potter, if you sink as low as that to call me something _that _degrading again you will be sorry you were ever born," she threatened.

Potter didn't look sorry, embarrassed, or even a little bit scared at _all_. In fact, all he looked was amused. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled sheepishly.

"I just wanted to say…" he hesitated.

"Spit it out, Potter!" Lily demanded.

Potter looked taken aback—for a second. Then he grinned. "I just wanted to say… I saw your quiz grade in Transfiguration."

Lily felt her face pale and her breath come out in harsh gasps. He did _not _just say that. James bloody Potter did _not_. Just. Say. That.

Apparently, he had.

"It was an accident, I swear," he added, like he wanted to confirm that it wasn't his fault (of course, nothing ever was. The Marauders were perfect—that's sarcasm, in case you didn't notice). "But I just wanted to tell you, I'm the one who got full marks on that quiz. And if you like, I could tutor you in Transfiguration. You'd pass every other test, quiz, or exam, because I'm really good at Transfiguration. And you're lucky to have me as a tutor. All the girls will be jealous." He flashed Lily a charming grin.

At least, any other girl would have found it charming. Lily, personally, found it revolting.

Her answer came instantaneously. "No, Potter."

The bottom of Potter's grin fell out. "But—"

"_No buts_. You _seriously_ think you can just come _strutting_ up to me like the _arrogant prick_ that you are, tell me you've seen my bloody_ bad grade_, offer to _tutor_ me, brag about how _great_ you are, and then act like that's not a _bad thing_?" Lily shook her head in disbelief. "You amaze me, Potter. You really do. And that's not a good thing. Now if you'll _excuse _me." Lily stomped away, still shocked at Potter's offer. Had he seriously thought she was going to say yes? After the way he had been acting?

He really needed to get his priorities set straight. Or else it would be the end of him.

Who knew, maybe the bloody prick would try to negotiate a deal with Voldemort, that creepy megalomaniac who was going around killing people for the fun of it.

As long as he got himself killed in the process, Lily wouldn't mind.

* * *

**Haha. Lily is harsh. And before you flame me for Lily's overreaction to her bad grade (funny, I've never gotten a flame before in my life, I think), remember this: everything is for a reason.**

**Review!**

**-xAndromedaBlackx-**

**(Chapter edited October 6th, 2008.)**


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